winterdyne

I'm pretty certain I just emailed info@toynami.com...

I'd also call or email Toynami... I had a broken MPC valk (backpack hinge) and they replaced the entire tail section, no charge, not even for shipping. Assuming they have parts in stock, they'll probably replace the entire arm for you. Took about a week or so for them to eventually respond, and it took around 3 weeks after that for the part to arrive in the UK. I believe the chain is China to US first though.

Alas, that's more or less in line with prices in the UK, only replace the $ with a £. :-( I want to build a 1/48 tomahawk to go with my armoured VF-1J. In a factory setting. I had that robotech / macross factory 1/100 double kit as a kid, and now I almost cry when I think of what I did to it... and how much it fetches on ebay when one surfaces.

Hmm... thanks. It appears Nottingham (where I am) is / was a bit of a hotbed for rapid prototyping, at least going on where a lot of the researchers come from... I couldn't really justify using a US based firm for experimenting as shipping and import costs for the parts would rapidly get prohibitive. It might be a better idea for me to find a more local firm. EDIT: Heh, just noticed digging around that you were working on armour parts for a 1/48 valk a couple of years ago... How'd that turn out?

Yeah, lightwave can export .stl's. I know very little about the techniques used though. From the sites I've seen the homebrew machines leave something to be desired in accuracy, which seems to be a result of slightly flexible materials being used on the mechanics, and deposition techniques which just won't compare with a laser based method. You use SLA at HOME?! Good god man, how rich are you? Unless of course you've blagged a machine from work. ;-) Anyway, the process I was thinking was to build coarse 'block' structures (and assembly infrastructure) using some kind of rapid prototyper and smoothing external surfaces manually (sand/ream/fill) before recasting components in resin. Should get a nice lightweight final model that way. What sort of accuracy and repeatability do these things have? Oh, also, for something like the gun barrels on the tomahawk, would simply turning the part on a lathe and then slicing it be a better idea than RP'ing the part in two halves?

I've been looking at some of the destroid models I've done on the computer recently, and was thinking about using a prototyping service to put together a master for 1/48 resin kits... anybody here played with this sort of stuff - including the homebrew fabbers like fab@home and reprap?

Yeah, on yours. Specifically in battroid mode, the linkages and hinges between the front and rear fuselage (torso) sections, and a few other places that'd blatantly be hard to reach or paint well without dismantling (like the inner surfaces of the knee covers). I've not received my valk yet (my first yammie) so I didn't know about the transparent heatshield - There's no way you can get that to look right without painting the exposed surface (but like you say, that makes it susceptible to scratching).

Hmm. The CF doesn't look as good as the GBP... There's still some very plasticky looking bits, which I want to avoid. I guess that'll mean a total strip down and rebuild... now where are my jewellers' screwdrivers? I think I'll also fill the Big West / Made in China panels on the bottoms of the wings... I HATE seeing stuff like that (and once I notice it I simply can't not see it, if you know what I mean). And filling means painting...

Nice work, I think it's the old threads my searches don't seem to find... That's just an oil wash over the toy, then a drybrush (with some airbrush scorching)? Did you apply a gloss coat before the decals and a setting solution etc? Oh how much disassembly did you have to do on the valk? I'm a little nervous about taking it completely apart...

Thanks for the welcome! Yeah I was planning on washing and keying everything... as luck would have it I'm being loaned a good quality airbrush and compressor by my brother (badger variable action airbrush, might need to buy fine needle / nozzle for it) and he's going to give me some 'hands on' training. With the VF-1J, would people recommend stripping any existing (yamato) paintwork and redoing, or just applying the decals, panel lining and weathering on top of the existing paintwork (well, on top of a glosscoat on top of the existing paintwork)? My gut instinct is that it'll wear like buggery like that, so the original paintscheme might as well be stripped (since necessary sanding would ruin it).

Hello everyone! I've been lurking here for a few years now, and I'm really impressed with the quality of some of the weathering/customising work done. I've just bought a 1/48 VF-1J Hikaru, and GBP armour set, which I plan to decal up, possibly battle damage and weather. I'm not planning a custom paint job (this is my first custom job on a toy this expensive), but I would like to reduce the toyishness of the piece, without reducing the playability - I like to handle my toys! Sorry if this seems like a long rambling post, but it's probably a good idea to get as much information across on what I can do before asking for new techniques. I'm a fairly good miniature painter (wargames and militaria) so I already know a lot of techniques that work well on static models, but a transformable item with armour to be added / removed is going to get a lot of wear. I know how to sand, file and fill, and I know pretty much every brush technique there is going. I have almost NO experience with airbrushing (so this is something I'd like advice on!). I fully expect to buy kit (compressor, a new airbrush) so advice on what's good is also appreciated. There seems to be a lack of 'start-to-finish' threads here on customising (or at least I can't find 'em) so I will be documenting everything I do for others to follow. I realise that might repeat a lot of information given in this thread but I expect this one to get sidetracked a bit, and a concise one would be easier for others to follow. Ok - the plan I have is, based on handling wargames stuff: 1) Disassemble the valk. 2) Detail paint the cockpit, pilot, missiles, extra hands, and other 'low wear' items. 3) Glosscoat the valk parts - will I need to strip original paint / repaint and sand down high-wear areas? 4) Apply decals from Robographics / Anasazi. Seal. 5) Weather the valk parts. Gloss / hard seal everything for durability. 6) Matt varnish everything. 7) Repeat for GBP I'm a little concerned that this many coats may thicken up the parts a bit too much... But it seems to be what's generally done from what I've read here... Advice / hints would be GREATLY appreciated (I've just spent damn near $300 and do NOT want to f*ck this up). :-) Thanks all.